Noted social entrepreneur and founder of educational institutes KISS and KIIT, Achyuta Samanta is among 15 people selected from across the world for the prestigious Gusi Peace Prize for 2014.
The award, announced by Philippines-based Gusi Peace Prize International, will be presented in Manila on November 26, a KIIT press release said here.
Samanta was selected for the award for his efforts and achievements in "poverty alleviation through education and humanitarianism," it said.
Samanta is the first person from Odisha to receive this coveted award since its inception, it said.
Samanta has establish the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), a free residential institute for 22,500 tribal children and also KIIT, a group of professional institutes.
Along with Samanta, 14 other eminent personalities from Austria, China, Congo, Germany, Bangladesh, Iran, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Nepal, France, Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia would be decorated this year.
